IFA: Huawei Slammed For Orange Weighing Smartphone Stunt

On stage at IFA in Berlin, the company used the pressure-sensitive Force Touch technology in its new Mate S smartphone to weigh an orange.

TVN News Said of the stunt “It may just be the moment we can look back on as a low-point for announcing products at trade show”.

The Verge said “There are still a lot of questions about Huawei’s Force Touch technology, namely, how accurate is it and what is the maximum weight? The orange weighed in the demonstration came out as 280 grams, which sounds a little on the heavy side to us, but it’s clear that Huawei has big ambitions when it comes to moving beyond basic touchscreen interactions”

There doesn’t seem to be any indication Huawei’s Force Touch display can do more than judge weight. It didn’t show off any apps or services that will make a difference to your daily life, or improve how you use a smartphone.

More to the point, when are you ever going to want to weigh anything by setting it on top of your smartphone?

At the event that is getting a lot of criticism Huawei announced the Huawei Mate S. It measures 149.9 x 75.3 x 7.5mm and has a nano coating to protect it from moisture damage, like sweat, rain and humidity. On the front there is a 2.5D display, protected with Gorilla Glass 4, measuring 5.5-inches with a 401ppi from the 1920×1080-pixel resolution.

The Mate S is powered by a HiSilicon Kirin 935 octo-core chipset with 3GB RAM. There’s 32GB of storage, with Huawei using its dual SIM or microSD slot, meaning you can choose between more storage, and connectivity to a different network. There’s a 2700mAh battery, offering fast charging.

Then there is the 13-megapixel camera on the back, with a four-colour sensor, optical image stabilisation and a sapphire lens for protection. There’s also a front light to make your selfies better from the 8-megapixel front camera.

When it came to their new Force Touch Technology Huawei has built a unique layer of functionality that takes advantage of their new display. The Verge said it’s momentarily turned what will likely be the next wave of meaningful technology into a cheap parlour trick.